Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: August 2011

It's the last day of August, and time to show you all the photos I've collected as part of Kirst's Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt!

Inspiration...



The other day, I was trudging home on a soggy and wet evening, cursing the fact that I hadn't worn more waterproof shoes. Then I turned the corner, looked up and saw the most incredible rainbow, and I didn't mind that it was raining! It sounds cheesy but I really do think nature can be the most inspiring thing.

Something I made...



Not being a particularly crafty type, my 'something I made' just had to be food-related. And I chose the gorgeous raspberry cake my friend Kim and I made a few weeks ago!

Birds...



It had to be the peacock, didn't it!

Supplies...



Again, my 'supplies' are foody ones! And these went to make up one of the best barbecues I've ever been involved with - we had piri-piri prawns, grilled mushrooms, steaks (for the meat-eaters) and corn on the cob. Yum yum!

Holiday...





A really easy category for me, this one, seeing as I'm currently posting from Portugal! I'm having a lovely time, the weather's been beautiful (sunny but not too hot, which is just perfect for a delicate English Rose type like me...) and I've been eating and drinking and lazing about. Perfect!

Head on over to Kirst's blog, The Leopard Anchor, to find out what the other CPSH participants have come up with!

Leaving on a jet plane...

I'm off on holiday, leaving this sort of thing...



...far behind me! My toes have a fresh coat of Shellac...



...and the Massive Suitcase is packed and ready to go!

See you in a couple of weeks!

The joys of country living...

I was at my parents' house over the weekend, and on Friday night I went to bed really looking forward to my Saturday lie-in. No running, no Pilates, nothing to do except sleep in and then maybe have a nice long bath. Bliss.

Or it would have been, except that at 7am I was rudely awoken by a strange HONK noise outside. HONK! HONK! *silence* HONK!! It sounded like a severely wounded duck. A few minutes later, I heard my parents get up, and I then heard gales of laughter and a cry of 'Allie! Have you got your camera??'

This was outside...



A peacock! Who knew peacocks honked? There then followed half an hour of chasing the peacock around the garden...



...before we eventually gave up and decided to let the stupid thing find its own way out of the garden. It flew off eventually!

After the riots...

...some slightly more uplifting images from my local area!

Oxford and another towpath BBQ...

I went to Oxford for the weekend with a couple of friends, and had a lovely time! We did some sightseeing...





...and we drank some celebratory Prosecco by the Thames.



Then when I got back to London, I headed straight off to my friend's boat for more cuddles with this chap...



...and another fantastic barbecue! It was beyond posh - we're getting far too good! I brought marinated prawns, healthy coleslaw, sweet potato and white bean dip, and lentil and artichoke salad.

Not the sort of thing I enjoy posting about...

...but I had to share a few photos of the disturbances in my neck of the woods last night. There have been riots across London, with looting and criminal damage and all sorts going on. It's frankly disgusting - from what I can tell it's mindless violence and thuggery, occasionally hung on some flimsy 'We're showing the rich we own this town/we want our taxes back/stupid government' bollocks.

Thankfully my bit of London wasn't as badly affected as other areas have been, but it wasn't a pretty sight this morning.











The good news is that Londoners are pulling together (we're very good at doing that) and by this morning, teams of 'Riot Wombles' were gathering to help with the clean-up operation. I'm not a very political person, and I don't feel I know enough about all the various issues to really comment on what's happened, but like everyone I'm shocked and saddened and disappointed and angry at what's been done to my beautiful city.

Nutty nut butter...

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a bit of a revolutionary blog post at Vegan Epicurean. It mentioned homemade reduced fat nut butter - 'you what??' I thought! I love nut butter - and nuts are really good for you - but nut butters can be quite oily and VERY calorific.

So when I was tempted by a jar of cashew butter in Holland & Barrett on my way home from work, I thought I'd give it a go.

You take an ordinary jar of nut butter...



...and you pour off all the oil that's collected on the top. There was at least a couple of tablespoons of oil on the top of my jar!

Then you scoop the nut butter into a bowl, and whip it up using a hand beater (or you can put it in a food processor), adding water a little at a time until it goes all fluffy and creamy.



Like this!



The added bonus is that the whipped butter is much more voluminous, so you get more of it (you'll probably need a bigger jar!)



It tastes fab - really nutty and creamy without being at all greasy. And it spreads really, really well. It's still not exactly low-fat, but I certainly feel a lot better about it than I do about stirring a load of oil into my nut butter every time I want to eat some.

Weekend baking!

My friend Kim came to stay for the weekend, and yesterday we went to my friend Leonie's boat for a towpath barbecue. I was instructed to bring something for pudding - and I don't need any excuse to get baking! So Kim and I raided my recipe files and settled on my favourite fudgy cocoa brownie recipe, and a raspberry bakewell cake that I'd been meaning to try for ages.

The brownie batter looked amazing...



...and then we took our cakes along to the canal on a surprisingly sunny evening!



We also met this little tiger...



...and the raspberry bakewell cake turned out amazingly well!



As did the brownies!



We had LOADS of food - including strawberries wrapped up in foil with chunks of dark chocolate (and a sneaky chocolate brownie) and baked in the embers of the barbecue. Absolutely gorgeous - what a fantastic idea!

Tofu and veg...

We haven't had a good old 'photo of my dinner' post for ages, have we! I was telling my mum and dad about tonight's food - whenever I phone home, they always ask what I'm having to eat. We like food in my family! And the combination of tofu and veg is one of my favourites. I just made a big pot of veggie stew-type thing, with onion, mushrooms, red pepper, broccoli, chick peas and a tin of tomatoes, with a little bit of curry paste to give it a bit of interest. When it had all cooked down, I fried some tofu in the tiniest little spray of oil from my spray bottle, and I made a little minty yogurty raita thing with Total 0% yogurt and mint from my windowbox. Unbelievably healthy, protein-packed and extremely yummy!

Kirst's Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt...

My friend Kirst has a fabulous blog, The Leopard Anchor, and she's set up a monthly photo scavenger hunt which I've decided to join! I feel like I need a bit more photography inspiration. There are two regular monthly categories - 'Inspiration' and 'Something I Made', and then three categories that will change every month. This month we've got 'Birds', 'Supplies' and 'Holiday/Vacation' - as I'm off to Portugal at the end of the month that one shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Head on over to Kirst's blog if you fancy joining in - I'll be posting August's photos before I go away!